1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to removable window and door screens and more specifically to embodiments of screens that are easily removed from within parallel tracks of an opening of the window or door.
2. Background of the Art
Screens have been used for thousands of years for keeping insects, leaves, birds, and debris from entering a building or other structure while permitting the inflow of fresh air. In ancient times, cloth or wicker attached to a frame was used to make the screen. Modernly, most screens consist of a fiberglass mesh or netting held taut and supported by an aluminum frame. Other common mesh materials include nylon, polyester, bronze, stainless steel, aluminum, copper, brass, and galvanized steel. Other common frame materials include wood, steel, and vinyl, sometimes in combination with each other and/or aluminum, though over the years other materials have been tried, including rubber, fiberglass, and closed-cell foams. Some screens have no frames, but are mesh material that is made to roll out from a spool and then be held taut across an opening by fastening the screen mesh to door or window itself.
Despite the maturity of the art of screen making, some improvements are still needed. One of those needed improvements relates to a type of screen which is in common use in modern residential and commercial construction. This screen type is referred to herein as a “groove-attachment screen.” The groove-attachment screen is held in place in the door or window opening in which it is intended to be used by way of parallel sides of its frame fitting within receiving grooves running along two parallel sides of the door or window opening. One or more springs typically project from one of the two vertical sides of the screen frame. In some cases, the receiving grooves are located on the vertical sides of the window or door opening, while in others they are located on the top and bottom sides of the window or door opening. Typically, one of the receiving grooves is a full-groove, i.e., a u-shaped groove, while the other receiving groove may be either a full groove or an a partial groove i.e., a groove having a bottom seating side and either just one retaining wall side or two retaining wall sides of unequal height.
During installation of a conventional groove-attachment screen, the side of the screen frame which has the spring or springs extending from it is angled into one of the receiving grooves of the door or window opening. The body of the screen then is rotated into the plane defined by the receiving grooves while the screen frame side having the spring or springs is pressed into its receiving groove to compress its attached spring or springs. This compression allows the opposite screen frame side to slip past the lip of its receiving groove. Once it does, the person installing the frame stops pressing against the spring side of the screen frame so that the spring or springs release some of their tension and cause the opposite side of the spring frame to seat against the bottom of its receiving groove. The screen is removed by reversing the installation process, i.e., by pressing the spring side of the screen frame into its receiving groove to unseat the opposite side of the screen frame while rotating the screen body so that the unseated screen frame side passes the lip of its receiving groove, and then withdrawing the spring side of the screen frame out of its receiving groove.
One problem with the conventional groove-attachment screen is that it can be difficult to install and to remove from the receiving grooves of window or door opening. This is especially true for difficult to reach windows and for large window or door openings since in such cases it is difficult to simultaneously compress all of the retaining springs along one side of the screen frame while fitting or withdrawing the opposing side of the screen frame into or out of its receiving groove. This problem is often aggravated when the corners or the frame members lack sufficient rigidity to maintain the frame in a single plane, the sides of the frame in alignment with one another, or the corners in their use-angles (which are usually right angles for square or rectangular window or door openings). Another problem with the conventional groove-attachment screen is that its frame sides which are retained in the receiving grooves are wider than the depths of their respective receiving grooves. This makes the sides visible to a viewer looking at the screen with a line of vision that is perpendicular to the screen's mesh material surface, thus raising aesthetic issues with the appearance of those sides of the frame.
Some solutions applicable to one or more of these problems may be found in the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 246,153 to Koch; U.S. Pat. No. 1,736,688 to Yerby et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 1,756,227 to Torrent; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,789 to Ober. However, the present invention provides novel and non-obvious solutions to the deficiencies and drawbacks of the prior art.